31 December 2006

2006 is at an end, and my last Blog entry for 2006 simple links all 379 Blog entries (including this one) in a single post! I am extremely pleased as to how this Blog has turned out and I hope you all enjoy the second year! :)

...and be on the lookout tomorrow when this Blog will have its new banner for 2007! :)

25 December 2006

Today I recommend getting out your DVD or VHS of "A Christmas Special" and watching it. You'll be glad you did! Many of us loved the He-Man and She-Ra special as kids, and even though we now realize as adults that it is not as good as it could have been, we still enjoy seeing it and remembering those nostalgic holiday memories of childhood!

24 December 2006

And here are pages four to six of "Shooting" from issue forty-six of the UK Masters of the Universe comic. Enjoy the amusing twist in this story featuring He-Man, Ram Man, the Sorceress and a group of aliens!

22 December 2006

Issue forty-six of the UK Masters of the Universe comic featured a very original wintry He-Man story titled "Shooting" featuring He-Man, Ram Man, the Sorceress and a group of aliens. Here are pages one to three...

21 December 2006

"A Christmas Special" marked the first appearance of the Monstroids, whom I think were a good addition to the He-Man and She-Ra universe. They worked for Horde Prime and helped to expand the Horde Empire. This group of threatening transforming robots were almost definitely based on a certain group of robots in disguise from another show of the eighties! The most disappointing thing about the Monstroids was their appearance in "Day Of The Flowers" from She-Ra's season two, where they were portrayed as unthreatening, unintelligent robots that obeyed Hordak's every command, and could be defeated by cold temperatures! As you will see from this video clip they originally feared no one...

19 December 2006

Before the update I just want to make mention of the extremely sad passing of animation legend Joseph Barbera of Hanna-Barbera Productions who died yesterday.

Another day, another video clip from "A Christmas Special". One of the most puzzling things in this He-Man and She-Ra special is the role of Skeletor. Here he appears to be working for Horde Prime, even though season one of the She-Ra series had already showed us that he was still very much an independent villain. This is one of the better scenes from this disappointing special.

17 December 2006

As I have discussed before "A Christmas Special" has a great cast of Evil Warriors. First off we have season two He-Man villain Webstor, and even though he is silent in this appearance it is nice to see his return to the screen. The appearance of Rattlor is very surprising as we last saw him in the She-Ra series as a member of the Horde. Finally we have the two villains from the latter half of season two; Spikor and Two Bad, who only appeared together very briefly in one episode. Their collaboration ends with an amusing moment where Skeletor frustrated with his warriors decides to banish them from his sight the quickest way he knows how. Spikor's line is the most confused statement ever heard in the series!

16 December 2006

Welcome to The He-Man and She-Ra Blog's first Theme Week(s)! In the days of the Episode Review WebsiteZadoc Angell and I would always create theme weeks that showcased several He-Man and She-Ra episode reviews with common concepts or threads. Our website's first ever theme on December 24th 1997 was based around Christmas, so it only seems appropriate that this Blog's first theme week reflects Christmas!

Until the New Year I will be featuring many Blog entries dedicated to those snowy, icy, and generally chilly moments from both He-Man and She-Ra, and the occasions where the Eternians and Etherians would acknowledge the holiday season! Like Prince Adam said, "Not everyone celebrates Christmas, but the spirit of the Christmas season is within us all!"

:)

And here is the first Christmas Blog post for your enjoyment! Below you can read the first four pages of "The Secret of the Scroll" from issue nine of the UK Princess of Power comic. Pages five to eight will follow. Enjoy this wintry She-Ra story!

15 December 2006

Let's just have a minute of silence respecting the end of the above Blog banner starring Prince Adam and Orko...

:)

Here are two amusing images from He-Man's season one episode "Prince Adam No More." Desperately ducking out of the way of a huge blast courtesy of the slightly malfunctioning Attak Trak both Prince Adam and Man-At-Arms are drawn with expressions that bring a smile to the face; Man-At-Arms' wincing face in the first image, and Adam's slightly painful one-eye-closed look in the second image. Little moments like this make it apparent that those who worked on the show actually cared about the end product...

14 December 2006

This weekend I'll be doing something to this Blog which I used to do on the Episode Review Website every once in a while! Just be prepared to say goodbye forever to the above Adam and Orko banner as of Friday...

Here is an instantly recognizable image from the He-Man season one episode "Dawn of Dragoon." I always think that along with the main panning shot of Trolla this was one of the most iconic images of Orko's home planet. Astonishingly even though we visit Trolla numerous times during the series we only ever see this image twice, exclusively to this episode!

13 December 2006

One of my favorite small scenes from the season one He-Man episode "Quest for He-man" occurs when He-Man, struck with amnesia, is given a tour of Gleedil's home. He-Man is shown a gallery of the animals that are extinct due to Plundor's cruel hold over the planet of Trannis. What I love about this scene is how blatant the artist has tried to make the Leopard Elk look like Cringer in an effort to jolt He-Man's memory!

12 December 2006

Here is another great panning shot from the He-Man season two episode "The Arena." As with the other panning shots that I showcased from this episode in an earlier Blog entry look out for the obvious join in this image. You can see where the artist has had to paint two separate backgrounds as one whole one. This image is a great piece of directing, as the forces of evil prepare their attack on the Royal Palace.

11 December 2006

Here is an advert from issue twenty-eight of the UK Masters of the Universe comic. This advertised a one off special which collected numerous German Masters of the Universe comics, and translated them into English. At some point I hope to feature the German Masters of the Universe comics as they were quite elaborate in their storytelling!

10 December 2006

The end of "Dawn of Dragoon" boarders on being sickly sweet with Orko hugging He-Man first and then Man-At-Arms shortly after; the little Trollan had previously been hugging Dree Elle on Trolla! However as critical as I may sound I did recommend that the image of Orko hugging He-Man be used as one of the images on the BCIHe-Man and the Masters of the Universe Season One Volume One boxset!

He-Man's "The Arena" is one of season two's best episodes. There are two opening panning shots where we are introduced to General Tataran's warriors. While these panning shots are very much filler material they do function as great expositional scenes showcasing the scale and variety of General Tataran's army. Be on the lookout out for the obvious extended background joins in this image!

(click on the image to see it at full-size)

And here we have the very familiar panning shot of Snake Mountain covered by General Tataran's army!

08 December 2006

Robby London crafted a wonderfully, backwards, crazy world with Trolla as was evident in "Dawn of Dragoon." However in season two of He-ManLarry DiTillio turned Trolla into more of a fantasy world that was much like Eternia, with beings of all shapes and sizes inhabiting it. The Krooms and their fortress were one such new introduction to Orko's homeworld in the He-Man season two episode "Trouble in Trolla." As you can see here the artists at Filmation painted a beautiful panning background of the fortress, but I think most of you will agree that this location does not really belong on Trolla and would be far better suited on Eternia!

"Wizard of Stone Mountain" from He-Man's season one features a very nice flashback to the days when Teela and Mallek were much younger, studying in the City of Wisdom. We can only question as to where on Eternia the City of Wisdom is located, but as you can see from this beautifully assembled panning shot that it carried the memorable color scheme, pinks and purples, that the Royal Palace had long established! It also makes me wish that the series had featured more flashbacks to other locations on Eternia...

07 December 2006

Here is a beautiful illustration by artist Robin Davies for "A Trap For He-Man" the first Masters of the Universe book published by Ladybird books. Stratos and Teela have never looked so good together!

06 December 2006

Continuing on from yesterday here are some more images from the season two He-Man episode "The Arena." It should be worth noting that usually if a scene has the characters shaded it means it is a good scene, just think of Prince Adam unsheathing the Sword of Power in "Into the Abyss", or He-Man surrendering his powers in "The Problem With Power." Notice here that on the image of Skeletor it appears some of the shading does not appear to match the actual line artwork. In any case, and in short; shading and shadows are good!

In the He-Man season two episode "Visitors From Earth" we see a hilarious piece of animation featuring Beast Man dropping a boulder on his foot! In these three extreme frames of animation you can see just how beautiful this sequence is. I personally think that this is yet another example that on many an occasion the Filmation animation department would throw the stock footage system and model guides out of the window in order to express beautiful, expressive and comical animation!

05 December 2006

"The Arena" is one of the best He-Man episodes of season two, as well as being one of the best of the series, mainly for the fight between He-Man and Skeletor. At the very end of the battle the mysterious being Om looms over them and we are treated to some very nice images of both He-Man and Skeletor shaded! I always think that it was a shame that the entire series was not animated with shadows in mind...

Here is an odd one. In the 1987 UK Masters of the Universe annual we see two different versions of Mer-Man in the same story! On page twenty-two Mer-Man appears to look like the original toy version, but on page twenty-five he resembles the cartoon model sheet! What was going on in the artist's head?

04 December 2006

"Quest for He-man" aside from featuring the magnificent Plundor also has some fantastical imagery scattered throughout the episode. None more so than the exceedingly comical fortress that Plundor uses as his base of operations in his conquest of Trannis. Here I have assembled a pan that you will either worship as pure genius on Filmation's part, or print out and throw darts at...